


Futile Questions

by EternalSurvivor



Series: Naruto Rare Pairs [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Day Seven Prompt: Family, Dead Body, Grief/Mourning, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Minor Character Death, Naruto Rare Pair Bingo 2019, Non-Graphic Depiction of Suicide, Prompt: Free space, Ten Days of Tenzo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 15:11:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20155639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalSurvivor/pseuds/EternalSurvivor
Summary: Scrawled in Shisui’s neat penmanship, were eight words that made Tenzo's blood run cold.The plan failed, I'm sorry. I love you.





	Futile Questions

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: This is canon compliant for Shisui's death. He commits suicide. His dead body is at the end of this story and Tenzo is grieving. Nothing graphic, but there is no happy ending here. I cannot say that more plainly. I wrote this while grieving my mother-in-law's passing. 
> 
> A special thanks to the brilliant Ohayohimawari for beta reading this one-shot. Please check [out their amazing work](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohayohimawari/pseuds/ohayohimawari) here.

Naruto Rare Pair Bingo Prompt: Free Space

Ten Days of Tenzo Day Seven Prompt: Family

* * *

Something was off in the small haven they’d made into a home. Their apartment looked the same, cozy and neat with the wooden furniture set he made for Shisui’s birthday. Still, something nagged at the back of Tenzo’s mind, a faint sense of unease he couldn’t quite shake.

“Shisui, I’m home.” He called from the genkan. The only response he received was the unnerving silence. “Shisui?” The unease twisted in his stomach, anxiety crawled up his spine. He padded into the empty apartment and turned to the kitchen. Shisui always left a note on the fridge if he had to leave before Tenzo got home. ANBU missions were an unpredictable part of their lives.

The fridge was bare.

There was no note.

Something was definitely wrong.

Tenzo jogged down the hall to the bedroom he’d shared with his boyfriend for the last year. Everything was how they left it that morning. The bed sat neatly made, the quilt from Shisui’s grandmother tucked in at the edges. Pictures lined the dresser. Sitting between the framed photographs of Shisui’s genin team and Team Ro off-duty was Shisui’s ANBU mask.

Tenzo lifted the raven mask, his fingers curling around a piece of carefully folded paper tucked beneath the porcelain. Tenzo pulled it free and opened the paper. There, scrawled in Shisui’s neat penmanship, were eight words that made his blood run cold.

_ The plan failed, I’m sorry. I love you. _

* * *

The note told him where to search, or more specifically who to search for. Look underneath the underneath Kakashi-senpai always told him. There was only one person Shisui would turn to when the Uchiha Clan was involved.

Itachi. 

* * *

Two dark, wide eyes looked up at him from the open door. “Who are you?” Sasuke Uchiha cocked his head to one side in a way that spoke of too much pure-hearted curiosity. Tenzo pressed the heel of his palm over the dull ache in his chest. It reminded him too much of Shisui.

“Is Itachi home?” He schooled his face and tone, willed them to stay passive.

The juvenile scowl he received for ignoring the boy’s question would look more intimidating on a kitten. “No, he’s training-”

“Where?” Tenzo fisted his hands so tightly, his knuckles turned red. He struggled to keep a tight cap on the panic steadily rising inside him. He didn’t have time for this. Shisui was in danger and this kid wanted to play twenty questions!

Sasuke’s scowl was accompanied by a deep pout. “Why should I tell you? I’ve never seen you around Big Brother before.”

“I need to talk to him!” Tenzo almost snarled but caught himself at the last minute. His self-control was slipping. He felt like a wound bow, the tension coiling so tight he was ready to snap. “It’s important, please.” He added after a minute.

Sasuke eyed the mokuton user, silently contemplating if he could be trusted. “He’s by the Naka river I think-”

Tenzo was gone in a whirl of leaves before Sasuke finished his sentence.

* * *

His heart pounded in his ears, more frantic and desperate with each step across the water’s surface. The Naka river was a vast, winding estuary that coiled through the Uchiha lands and into the larger Land of Fire. Locating one person along its banks was nigh impossible.

Tenzo’s nerves buzzed beneath his skin in frazzled jitters. He had to keep going, had to keep trying to find them.

_ Shisui, please don’t leave me alone again. _

Tenzo rounded the bend in time to see the body hit the water. He halted atop the river, terror locking his limbs in place with the cry that rang from above.

“Shisui!”

That was Itachi’s voice. His eyes widened, chest constricting tightly. His drew in ragged, laboured breaths. A cold sweat broke out across his brow.

...No.

No, no, no, no, no!!

Tenzo lunged forward and dove beneath the waves.

* * *

They washed up on the riverbank with Shisui clutched tightly in his arms. Tenzo dragged them up the rocky bank, teeth chattering as he collapsed onto his back. “Sh-Shisui.” He pressed two fingers to his boyfriend’s neck, hopelessly searching for a pulse he already knew he wouldn't find. A sob shuddered through him and slipped past his lips in a broken cry.

His hands shook when he drew his lover’s head onto his shoulder. Tenzo pressed his face into dark, wet curls. Hot tears streamed down his cheeks to trickle onto Shisui’s still face. He brushed his thumb across cold lips he’d kissed just that morning. Lips that would never smile or say another kind word.

Never again would he wake up to a warm body curled contently against him. Never again would he feel a calloused hand brush across his back during the night. No more _ welcome home _s or lingering kisses. Those gentle eyes would never look at him again.

_ I love you, I love you so much. Wasn’t that enough? I could’ve helped if you came to me. _

All sound seemed to drown out around him. Tenzo didn’t know why until he realized he was screaming himself hoarse. Over and over the sound ripped pure agony from his broken heart. His throat ached raw. He muffled his cries in Shisui’s chest, slowly folding over the body until they were stretched out on the grass.

Tenzo reached for his boyfriend’s hand, tenderly lacing their fingers together. He ignored how the appendages stiffened, the movements restricted by death’s grip. He’d hang on as long as he could. This was the last chance he’d ever have to touch the one he loved.

“Why… Shisui, why…?”

Asking was pointless when he’d never received an answer.


End file.
